Böcker i Studies in Indian and Tibetan-serien

"Saraha's spontaneous songs, or dohas, contain the special instructions of a guru, whose qualities of realization can then directly enter the heart of devoted disciples. These songs represent the rare perfection of the Buddhist art of expressing the inexpressible, and they can trigger a mind-to-mind transmission that some take to have the power of directly pointing out the true nature of mind. Saraha's dohas are quoted fairly often in Indic materials, which points to the fact that he was indeed an influential authority. The dohas are the most distinctive literary expression of a class of tantric Buddhist masters called siddhas, hailed by tradition as beings of exceptional spiritual realization. Essentially, these are gnomic verses; composed not just in the doha meter proper using a kind of literary Middle Indic called Apabhramsa, they also purportedly convey a high degree of mystical insight and were transmitted in collections. The "text" (already a tricky term) of Saraha's Spontaneous Songs has not yet been available in full, nor has it been stabilized to any degree of satisfaction. The discovery of two hitherto-overlooked manuscripts has helped to fill in the gaps. In fact, the present volume is the first in over six decades to bring to light new original material"--

This commentary on Guhyasamaja tantra is the seminal guide to deity yoga and tantric visualization for the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism.The Guhyasamaja Tantra, called the king of all tantras, is revered in Tibet, especially by the Geluk school. Ocean of Attainments, a commentary on Guhyasamaja practice, was composed by Khedrup Jé Gelek Palsang (1385–1438), a key disciple of the Geluk school founder, Tsongkhapa Losang Drakpa. It explores the creation stage, a quintessential Buddhist tantric meditation that together with the completion stage comprises the path of unexcelled tantra. In the creation stage, meditators visualize themselves as buddhas at the center of the celestial mandala, surrounded in all directions by male and female buddhas, bodhisattvas, and other enlightened beings. Yet creation-stage practice is not merely visualization but deity yoga—indivisibly uniting the meditation on emptiness with the visualization of the mandala. The creation stage uses the conceptualization in visualization to overcome conceptualization, thereby creating a nonconceptual and nonerroneous direct perception. Such a mind, profound and vast, can bring about a transformation that stops samsaric suffering. How can visions generated as mental constructs not be erroneous? To the awakened eye, the buddhas and other beings who dwell in the mandala are “reality,” and in a sense they are more than real. While the previously published Essence of the Ocean of Attainments is a concise exposition on the practice of the Guhyasamaja sadhana, Ocean of Attainments is far more detailed, providing extensive scriptural citations, clear explanation of the body maanala, arguments on points of contention, reference to other tantric systems, and critiques of misinterpretations. With its extensive and clear introduction, this volume is a vital contribution to the growing body of scholarship on Guhyasamaja and on Buddhist tantra in general.